Letters

The ANIMALIZE album was the beginning of a good thing. It opened the door to introduce other KISS music to the one audience us teenage boys wanted to like KISS more than anything...GIRLS! Lots of girls. Sure, girls seemed to like "Beth" and "I Was Made For Lovin' You". Often times they would say they liked those songs, but did not like KISS, in general. "Heaven's On Fire" changed all of that. It was heavier. Not too heavy. And, through it we were able to comfortably introduce girls to other great KISS songs. Songs like "Love Her All I Can", "I Stole Your Love" and "Anything For My Baby" amongst others. And...they would like those songs! Yes indeed, times were changing. For the better as far as I was concerned. THE TOUR: I camped out three nights in the snow to get front row seats for the Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois. The small time promoter who booked KISS also owned a dance club with an under 21 night every Sunday night. Unknown to KISS marketers (probably) "I Was Made For Lovin' You" was routine at the club on Sunday nights. It filled the dance floor all the way up until the mid 80's on a regular basis. I was the one who encouraged the D.J. to dust it off and play it in late 1982. The club would also play other KISS tunes from newly released albums (I made sure of that). This club was huge. It held hundreds of people. The dance floor had a big stage where myself and other KISS fans would imitate KISS and play air guitar (often times in KISS make-up). My friend and myself, both huge KISS fans, were like club kids. We were let in free in return for getting people to show up. If you were a KISS fan you gravitated to the place, eventually. The place was usually packed. This promoter took my friend and I backstage to meet KISS. He introduced us as, "The biggest KISS fans in the World". His words, not ours. I wore Eric Carr's Fox make-up. I usually wore Ace, but felt it inappropriate to wear since Ace was not there. Eric promised he would give me a drumstick during the show. After his solo he walked to the front of the stage, handed me the drumstick and gave me a thumbs up. When Paul smashed his guitar and went to give out the neck someone grabbed it and yanked it from him. He had a hurt look on his face, like he might have gotten cut. I looked at him worried and asked him if he was okay. He walked over to me and dropped the rest of the guitar into my hands. I was excited, but concerned about him. This was the greatest night ever in my entire life. KISS was on the rise again, girls were starting to see things my way and I had a dream-come-true KISS concert experience.